Back in the Game

The cast throws this curveball that catches the plate for a strike.

I don’t know if Back in the Game will have a long shelf life, or if it will turn Caan into a prime-time star (like son Scott on “Hawaii Five-O”), but I do think it’s worth a half-hour of your time.

While this Little League comedy doesn't quite measure up to the big leagues, we shouldn't be surprised if family audiences rally around the team, turning a solid base hit into something potentially worthy of extra innings.

The family conflicts are facile and easily resolved on Back in the Game, but Terry is an appealing heroine, and she has an amusing new best friend.

Nothing groundbreaking, but every so often a sports-themed show is de rigueur

There are two shows struggling to exist in one in the ABC comedy Back in the Game. One is about former all-star softball player Terry Gannon Jr. (Maggie Lawson) and her relationship with her hard-charging, estranged, ex-athlete father, Terry Sr. (James Caan), who goes by “The Cannon.” This show is pretty terrible.... The second show is not at all novel but it’s at least easier to take: Back in the Game is essentially a “Bad News Bears” reboot.

Producers persist with this post-recessionary fixation on adult children who fall on hard times and move back in with a parent or two; it’s both the worst and funniest premise that marginally employed sitcom writers can currently conceive. And so far, it’s worked mainly as an indicator of quick cancellation.